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<title>If Only by AlwaysARose53 (ChelleBee53)</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27898510">If Only</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChelleBee53/pseuds/AlwaysARose53'>AlwaysARose53 (ChelleBee53)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>No Fandom, Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 09:35:58</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>134</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27898510</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChelleBee53/pseuds/AlwaysARose53</td></tr>

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<a name="section0001"><h2>If Only</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>I am Rex.<br/>
I am a dog.<br/>
<br/>
I am more than two hundred years old.   Not in dog years, but in calendar years.<br/>
<br/>
I belonged, first, to a boy named Melrose.   He hated his name, by the way.<br/>
<br/>
I came on his eighth birthday.   And his  birthday wish was that I would live forever.<br/>
If only his wish had been that I would live as long as he did.<br/>
<br/>
I have romped with so many boys and girls, seen  them grow up, seen them grow old.<br/>
If only I could grow old, too.<br/>
But I never will.<br/>
<br/>
For not only am I doomed  to live forever, but  I have not aged since the<br/>
day Melrose, well-meaning Melrose, made that wish.<br/>
<br/>
If only I could lose my immortality.<br/>
<br/>
I have howled at too many graves.</p>
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